Foolish Thoughts and Complications
by VioletWindStorm
Summary: When she had been injured by Goryoumaru, Kagura had only thought of one thing.  Now she returns to Sesshoumaru, realizing why.  However, complications arise and threaten to let Naraku in on Kagura's little secret.  SesshxKagura
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Inuyasha" characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi. Rated "T" for language and somewhat mature themes.

Warning: My first real attempt at Fan Fiction so all reviews would be GREATLY appreciated. I hope I kept everyone in character

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Open...

Close...

Open...

Close...

Open again...

Yeah, this sucked. Flicking her fan closed once again, she decided that there absolutely had to be better things out there than sitting around watching this brat scheme things that seemed to be more for his own morbid amusement than any of Naraku's plans. However, the thing that irritated her the most was the fact that he was not even talking to her, but to one of Naraku's ugly bug things. There really was no reason for her presence other than he fact that he knew she did not want to be there. Annoying her seemed to be the brat's speciallty...

"Kagura," came the drawling voice. His voice always seemed to give her the chills when she was not execting it, so young sounding but completely lacking innocence. "Stop playing with that thing. I'm trying to concentrate here."

"Hmph... If I'm bothering you so much, why not just let me leave?" She knew he would not agree; he took some type of sick pleasure in controling her.

For the first time in hour, Hakudoshi broke eye contact with the insect and turned toward Kagura with skeptical eyes. He was silent for a moment as though he were actually considering her request be fore saying, "Things would be better off if you weren't here."

"In general or right now?"

The child grinned wickedly. "Both."

The wind sorceress's lip twitch a little as she took off on her feather, careful not to turn her back on the treacherous incarnation.

He must have had some type of motivation for leting her go like that. Hakudoshi was not the type to do nice things for people. She could only assume that he either planned to report to Naraku that she had run away again or that he was going to plot something she was not supposed to know about. Either way, she would have to enjoy these fleeting moments of semi-freedom. Hakudoshi and Naraku had been on her like a hawk ever since she had beseiged Goryoumaru's place.

Goryoumaru... She imagined that she could still feel it sometimes, his white hot beam of light coming at her head-on, piercing her unprotected chest, the searing heat closing her wound, stopping her from losing any blood but at the same time leaving her with a gaping hole through her chest. It was amazing though.. truely bizarre and amazing how in the few seconds that death had a hold over she was able to think more clearly then she ever had before that. She knew for a moment exactly what she wanted before she would sucumb to her own mortality. It was a foolish type of though, and she knew that if he knew what been going through her mind right then, he would think she was weak like a human or his half demon brother... perhaps he did know. The little girl had made it painfully obvious that she had not come simply to ask for help.

He must know by now. At the time, she had just assumed that she would be dying anyway, that it would not matter what he thought if he noticed, but in the end, she had lived. Sitting there beside him, she felt naked, but not just simply because her top had come off (although that had not helped much...), but she felt like her mind was an open book once again, the same way it was to Naraku or Hakudoshi. He could see right in and knew all too well why she had come, how she had given in to such a petty desire. She mentally cursed her foolishness. Everything that had been going through her mind then seemed so pathetic in retrospect. So what if she wanted to see him one more time? She would have been dead and would not have known any better. She highly doubted there was any afterlife for an incarnation like herself.

Still... she had wanted to see him again, and...

He had held her.

She could not help but wonder what it would have felt like had she been conscious, why he, with only one arm, had bothered to go out of his way and save someone like her. Deep inside, somewhere were her heart should have been, a stupid little girl imagined that it was because he cared for her. It was a ridiculous thought though. The little human girl had probably begged him until he gave in. That kid was another one who could read Kagura like an open book, although strangely she did not feel as violated as when Hakudoshi and Naraku did it. There was a gentleness and an innocence about the child that Hakudoshi lacked no matter how similar they looked in age.

Kagura wondered if perhaps she too lacked something that a real living being had. not that it mattered though. She did not care what she was as long as she was the wind and she was free.

Free... perhaps for a couple of hours before she had to go back to Hakudoshi and Naraku and whatever punishment or suicide-mission they had planned. She did not care. For now she could do as she pleased and nothing mattered, just as nothing had mattered when she had been injured and had sought out her single desire. Perhaps now...

Perhaps now... she could go see him again.


	2. Chapter 2

Inuyasha characters belong to Takahash who is not me...

Ok... I'm sorry cause I haven't done an acion scene in well over a year and fear this isn't my best. Either way, please enjoy. -

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Ch.2

She did not know what she would do when she got there. In fact, she was not even entirely sure why she would waste her few moments of freedom going to see that cold bastard who always acted like he had a stick up his ass. From a logical perspective, there was nothing she desired but his power, but she knew that was not why she went now. She currently had nothing to offer him, nothing at all except perhaps her _services._

No, Kagura shook her head at the mere thought of going to that level. The whole point of seeking out Sesshoumaru in the first place was her desire to be free, completely and utterly free as the wind itself. No... there was nothing she could offer Sesshoumaru, nothing that he would want from her or that she was not already giving to Naraku. She was lost in thought again as she so often was these days... lost in thought and not knowing what road to take. All roads, it seemed, led to Naraku.

That was why she almost did not notice it. She did not have a strong sense of smell like Kouga or the dog brothers, but she could feel the unpleasent presence on the wind. The presence being one that was human in origin, she normally would have just skipped over it, but these two auras were of people she knew, little people... little people being pursued by something much larger than themselves. Abandoning her thoughts of having nothing to offer Sesshoumaru, she quickly descended towards the two children, seeing a way she could help both them and herself. Her winds changed direction with furious speed and the deft skill only she possessed as she drew her fan back and let it go again with a power wind blade attack. The thing, whatever it was squealed as it jumped backwards, barely dodging the surprise attack as she cursed herself for having underestimated her opponent.

As she landed, the two frightened children, Rin and Kohaku, ran behind her kimono as the beast charged for the three of them. Up close, Kagura could see it was some kind of freaky red badger demon with a crazed look in its eyes. On its hind legs, it stood almost twice her height, and its claws would have put Inuyasha's to shame. '_It wants the boy's shikon sard,' _she realized as she snapped her fan closed and stepped back.

"Dance of the Dragon!," she yelled as the winds kicked up and threw random debris into the air. She could feel some little creature trying to cling to the back of her dress to shield itself and decided it must have been Rin.

The serpent twister descended from a cloud, writhing and dancing in its deadly prowess. Fortunately, this time the badger demon was not so lucky. Eve though it had dodged the worst of the attack, the harshest of the winds had grazed and lacerated its left side as some loose branches whipped across its face. It screamed as the wind demon followed through with a dance of blades attack, easily slicing through most of the already damaged skin on its left side.

_'There,'_ she decided haughtily, '_not so tough...'_

She was about to finish the gasping badger off when something broke her concentration. All at once she heard the little girl scream as pain seared through her fan-wielding arm and she dropped her weapon. Staggering sideways at the impact, Kagura stumbled over the little human girl and hit the ground hard.

_'Shit...' _She groped for her fan with her left arm whie trying to pull herself up, the wretched girl's screaming in her ears the whole time. _'I got cocky and forgot to look out for its mate.'_

The female demon, the one that had gotten Kagura, reared up at her and began to charge again, but before she could so much as raise a fan to it, a kusarigama blade whipped out from behind her and sliced the stupid thing's exposed arms. The wind sorceress was silently grateful as she heard the thing shriek and back off.

"I guess you're not totally useless, Kohaku," she said springing to her feet. "We'll end this quickly. You know what to do?" She glanced down at the boy who just gave a quick nod. "Good."

Recovering from the taijiya's attack, the female again began her forward charge, her fangs beared wide and her open mouth reaking of rancid meat. As the boy's attack flew at her again, she went to block it with her forearms, but failed to notice the slight difference in the boy's technique. Instead of slicing through her flesh as he had done before, Kohaku's kusarigama chain wrapped around the demon's body, immobilizing it for a second, just long enough for a rain of lethal wind blades to hit dead on.

The female groaned softly as she fell to the ground and Kagura turned her attention to the male. The wound on her arm was healing rapidly, and by this point she could easily move up to her elbow. The rapid regneration had to be the one good thing about being a spawn of Naraku. The male, she sensed, was dead aready; its mate had come too late.

Kohaku ran over to Rin as soon as he realized the battle was over but was surprised to see how unshaken the girl was. Sure she was a litte concerned looking, but not nearly as panicked as he had expected. He had expected her to be hysterical after the battle, but quickly remembered that this was the same girl who accompanied the great demonlord Sesshoumaru everywhere.

"Rin... are you okay?" The taijiya boy bend over the worried looking little child.

"Yes," she said sweetly, the worry vanishing from her face as she gave him a big grin. The way her large, brown eyes sparkled at him always caused Kohaku's heart to skip a beat. "The Kagura lady saved us, and now Lord Sesshoumaru is here."

That last statement also caused his heart to skip a beat... but for a VERY different reason.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the delay... I'm not very consistant in my writing. (Oh now she decides to say this...?)

Anyway, Here's ch3. I wasn't entirely satisfied with ch 2 and this one's a bit longer than the other two. enjoy :)

Inuyasha characters belong to Takahashi (who is quite obviously not me or else this would not be "fan fiction")

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ch 3

Kohaku's heart suddenly skipped a beat as he froze.

"L-lord Sesshoumaru?" he asked Rin as the child stared up at him, her usual grin set firmly in place.

"Rin," a cold vice came from behind him, a dark shadow looming over the small boy as he could feel himself crumbling under it. "What has happened here?"

Kohaku stared out at the two dead badger-demons lying side by side and then glance over to Kagura several feet away, clutching at her bloodied sleeve and looking more than a bit concerned. Below him, Rin's smile only seemed to grow which he found strangely reassuring since this whole incident had been his fault in the fist place. If he had not snuck away from Naraku's castle… If the demons had not sensed his Shikon Shard… then Rin's life would have never been in the danger he had so carelessly put it in.

"Lord Sesshoumaru—'' Rin began, juming up in delight, but was quickly cut off when Kohaku motioned for her to be silent an turned to face the Great demon.

"Lord Sesshoumaru, I'm sorry. It was my fault." He felt like there was something caught up in his throat. He had no idea what to say to Sesshoumaru, and, if anything, he should have probably stayed silent. "I came here to see Rin. I wasn't thinking… I didn't realize. She had nothing to do with it… I… I…"

He froze. Sesshoumaru's glare had proven to be enough to scatter packs of demon wolves, but now it proved to be even more lethal than Kohaku had ever imagined as he stood hypnotized by the ferocity of the angered Daiyoukai. It seemed his silence could speak louder than anything even Naraku could say in words.

"Lord Sesshoumaru!" A cute little girl's voice called out just as the demon lord was about to act. "I'm okay and so is Kohaku-kun." Kohaku could only watch in awe as the terrible demon's eyes shifted down to the girl's grin and seemed to soften slightly upon realizing her words were true. "That nice Kagura lady saved us," she chirped on, "but the demon hurt her arm."

His gaze lingered for a second on the girl child, but slowly turned to catch Kagura who stood a distance away, her arms awkwardly crossed and her shoulder turned toward the man before her as though she had something to hide.

'_Damn him,' _she thought as she locked her larger red eyes with his golden ones and quickly felt her composure becoming undone. _'He can see right through me… Why else would I have come here? I guess I shouldn't feel so awkward… I'm actually wearing a shirt this time.'_

"Wind Sorceress Kagura," Sesshoumaru began, his emotionless stare unwavering as Kagura tried to keep her cool. "What do you know of what happened?"

She shot him an annoyed glare, but quickly realized her annoyance should be directed towards herself. For a split second she had actually supposed he would ask about _her, _but she knew such hopes were in vain. Her thoughts flashed back to their last meting when he had pulled her, half drowned, from the river. _"I have no interest in hearing your sob story." _She had hated that.

"I know just about as much as you do, Sesshoumaru. I came here to pick up Kohaku for Naraku's next assignment and found him getting chased by some stupid badger demon."

Sesshoumaru seemed sarcastically curious at her words, and she could have sworn she saw one of his eyebrows twitch upwards. "_He_ acted on his own and ran away from Naraku?"

"Hmph," she scoffed at his disbelief, "I'm a bad influence."

Silence. Tense silence. And then,

"Lord Sesshoumaru, aren't you going to help the nice lady? She's hurt, and she saved us."

"It's all right," the wind demon said, finally breaking eyes with Sesshoumaru and secretly thanking the little girl for breaking the silence. For someone so innocent, it almost seemed like she knew exactly how Kagura was feeling. "It's already healed mostly. I am an incarnation of Naraku after all."

Sesshoumaru mentally winced slightly as she threw in the last bit, but he would not show it. The vision of the spider on her back was all too well burned into his memory, Naraku's calling-card no doubt. There was no other way a demon with such efficient regenerative properties could gain such a mark unless it was burned on by one with immense spiritual powers, and he doubted that anyone that powerful would have left her alive.

He looked at her again for a moment; no doubt that she was a strong demon. Even he had to admit that he had not expected that any demon would have survived the state she had been in the last time he had seen her, but she had healed completely in a matter of minutes. It still puzzled him though… really made him wonder why she had come to him then. There was no denying that she had pushed herself quite far just to see a man who had once openly refused to help her.

He put the idea from his mind. It was none of his concern.

"If you're just going to stand there," came an irritated female voice, shaking the silver-haired demon from his thoughts, "I might as well leave. There's no point in lingering since Naraku'll have my head if I'm late." She plucked the feather from her hair absently as she wondered if these were the types of feeling young girl talked about when they said their hearts were racing. There was certainly a tightness in her chest…

"No! Kohaku-kun! Tell her she can't leave yet!" Little Rin in her bright yellow kimono ran forward once again and attached herself to Kagura's leg, much to the wind demon's dismay. "Lord Sesshoumaru, that's not the proper way to treat a lady." She turned to admonish the Great Demonlord, the shock too apparent in Kagura and Kohaku's eyes as he just let it go.

He hesitated for a moment as the demoness tried to gently shake the child from her leg but to no avail. The tightness in her chest was getting worse as she felt I starting to become difficult to breathe. _'Damn,' _she thought, '_he shouldn't be having this kind of effect on me.' _It was becoming almost painful.

"Do you want me to treat your arm, Kagura?" His face was as blank as his tone, but Kagura could tell that it was a sincere offer.

She shook her head, trying to hide how hard it was becoming to breath around him. "I'm fine," she panted taking a step away and suddenly becoming light-headed. "Come on Kohaku…"

When she did not feel his presence behind her, Kagura turned back to look at the boy. "Kagura, are you okay?"

His eyes looked full of a concern she could not understand until she realized how bad her breathing must have sounded. _'Damn it… he's just a man. I can't afford to be this weak around him… not again.' _But the feeling in her chest would not go away as it became more and more painful. "We need to leave now, Kohaku."

But the boy did not come.

"Kagura," Sesshoumaru's cool voice suddenly spoke up. "Have you seriously not realized that Naraku has taken hold of your heart again?"

Her eyes widened in shock at his words. "How did you…?"

She thought she saw a hint of concern on his face, but it could have just been her dizziness playing tricks on her mind. "It became apparent once you healed so quickly after you had… decided to take a swim last time. You stated yourself that Naraku's heartlessness was the reason why he could heal from such horrific injuries. Now I'm certain that is what has happened."

Kagura stared at him as the demon before her started to blur a bit. It made sense.

"Stay here for a while, Lady Kagura," Rin said, loosening her hold on the woman's leg and helping her to sit down. Kagura just nodded and braced herself for more awkwardness around these people.


	4. Chapter 4

Wow... two updates this close together. I'll be honest, it's a rare thing for me to be so consistant. ; I don't know whether I'll do another chapter to this next, another chapter to "Death or Not" or maybe even another installment to my plushie saga. Anyway, enjoy this chapter, cause Naraku will be in the next one and he ruins everything :(

Takahashi owns the characters.

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Ch 4

The wind sorceress grimaced in pain and grabbed the kimono tight around her chest as she leaned backwards against a tree for support. She closed her eyes trying her hardest to look as though nothing were wrong; she did not want to look weak in front of him again.

'_Damn him… Of all the times, he chooses now to punish me? What the hell did Hakudoshi tell him?'_

"Lady Kagura?" a small voice sounded softly in her ear. "Would you like for me to treat your arm now?"

Opening one eye, Kagura glanced down at the girl, her body stiff and trembling slightly. "Do whatever you want, kid. I don't care."

Rin's face perked up into a big smile as she began tending to the wind demon's injury (or lack thereof by this point.) Kagura just shut her eye again and leaned heavily against the tree. The pain in her chest had been steadily increasing, not the quick usual burst of pain Naraku usually gave her.

'_Perhaps this time he's planning to finish me off for good. With Hakudoshi around I can't expect anything I do or think to be a secret anymore.'_

She opened her eyes for a moment and took in the sight of the great dog demon before her, sending a small breeze to tussle through his silver hair. He looked so regal standing off there in the distance, powerful and free like a real demon should be.

'_Last time I came to him to die… looks like I might be getting that after all.'_

But the pain began to ebb as gradually as it had come, she noticed, as her breathing came a bit easier. After some time past she was finding it easier to move once more and was very relieved once the pain had stopped completely, though the episode had taken quite a toll on her strength.

"There you go, Lady Kagura! I'm finished!" Rin stepped back to admire her work as the demoness saw that her arm was wrapped snuggly around the area where it had been struck. Rin had torn off the sleeve of the wind user's kimono and used it as a bandage, tying it securely, but gently at the end. Overall, had Kagura not have been able to heal so quickly, Rin's service would have been very useful to her, and the demon actually felt very grateful to the child. Not many people went out of their way to help one of Naraku's children.

"Thank you Rin," she said as she stood up, a little light-headed still but generally all right. "Kohaku!" she called over to the boy who had been staring nervously at her since Sesshoumaru had arrived. "We're going."

"Yes, Kagura," he said as he walked over to her, his face unreadable as he glanced over toward Rin.

"See you, Sesshoumaru." Plucking the feather from her hair, she took one last look over towards the dog demon, only to find him walking over her way. It surprised her a bit, but she quickly dismissed it. Having known Sesshoumaru as long as she had, she knew it was useless to expect anything of him.

Then, Sesshoumaru did something that totally threw the wind user for a loop; he spoke.

"Kagura, why do you dress the way you do?" His voice was flat as always but with a dash of curiosity in it.

"Why do I…? I don't know. I like the way it looks I guess… Why the hell do you dress the way you do?"

The demon lord raised an eyebrow as Kagura had clearly failed to understand what he meant. "The last time I saw you, your top had been thoroughly incinerated. This time your sleeve has been torn by both a mere badger demon and someone as harmless as Rin."

Kagura glared at him. "Well I'm sorry if I'm not the great demon lord you are. Let me guess, now you're gonna tell me that even your clothing is infused with superior demon power?"

"That is correct."

Kagura balked.

"Naraku never explained to you about demon clothing?"

Feeling a rush of embarrassment come over her, Kagura shook her head. "No… I had no idea such at thing existed. I got my clothes from the ladies of the castle, that's all."

Sesshoumaru regarded her curiously, his expression blank as always but definitely a little softer. Naraku had kept her ignorant of a lot of things…

"We need to be going now," she said again. "Thanks for everything, Sesshoumaru."

He only watched in silence as the feather drifted off towards Naraku's castle. He wondered for a moment if he'd ever see her again before abandoning the thought as none of his concern, but he did realize that this was the second time he had seen the wind witch come within an inch of her life. Naraku's power over her was not something that could be taken lightly.

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"Damn it, Kohaku, what the hell's the matter with you?" Kagura's deep red eyes bore into the young taijiya as he looked up at her helplessly. "If keeping you alive was not hard enough before, you have to go and run off with that little human girl, threatening to give away our secret."

The boy was just silent for a while, looking down over the edge of the feather. "Why are you doing this for me?"

"I'm not doing it for you, kid. I'm doing it for me. The longer you keep your jewel shard, the longer I'll live. Once Naraku collects the rest of the shards, he'll take your and you will drop dead. Then he'll use the jewel to become a full demon. There won't be… anymore use for me." Finally voicing her thoughts aloud caused them hit her all at once.

Kohaku's head shot up, his eyes wide and glued to the wind demoness. Never had he thought for a moment that her life was so closely connected to his. He just looked at her and understood.


End file.
